Just returned from the Magic - Few Thoughts

[randumb0]

I sailed for the first time this year on the Magic. I've always sailed on the Dream in the past. Sure the Magic is smaller, but the pool deck is very underwhelming and I felt like the food was mediocre. There

 

[SamFaniam]

Thank you for your review! I was on that same cruise. I thought the food in the MDR was wonderful for the most part. I loved the Sea Bass from Rapunzel's. Rapunzel's was my favorite restaurant-fun entertainment! I was surprised that we didn't get to draw our own character in Animator's Palate? Castaway Cay was perfect and in Nassau we did the Blue Lagoon Island, VIP Adult Beach. I would do that excursion again in a heartbeat. We practically had the beach to ourselves and it was beautiful. It included lunch which was cold and tasteless though. I normally stay on the ship when in Nassau. Matt the Adult Entertainment Director was so much fun! I loved the Silent Dance Party. This was my 12th Disney cruise with the majority of them on the Wonder and Fantasy. The Wonder has my heart.

Rapunzel's sea bass is soooooo good! We had a wonderful server on our Magic cruise last fall, who saw how much we liked that dish. Our last night was in Lumieres, but they were serving the regular Rapunzel‘s meal in that restaurant. Our server said to us not to worry about ordering an entrée, so we didn’t and he brought up that wonderful sea bass.

 

[Geomom]

Thank you for your review! I was on that same cruise. I thought the food in the MDR was wonderful for the most part. I loved the Sea Bass from Rapunzel's. Rapunzel's was my favorite restaurant-fun entertainment! I was surprised that we didn't get to draw our own character in Animator's Palate? Castaway Cay was perfect and in Nassau we did the Blue Lagoon Island, VIP Adult Beach. I would do that excursion again in a heartbeat. We practically had the beach to ourselves and it was beautiful. It included lunch which was cold and tasteless though. I normally stay on the ship when in Nassau. Matt the Adult Entertainment Director was so much fun! I loved the Silent Dance Party. This was my 12th Disney cruise with the majority of them on the Wonder and Fantasy. The Wonder has my heart.

Animator's Palate--the 'draw your own character' dining is on cruises of 6 nts? or longer--it takes place the second time you're in Animator's Palate--so everyone needs to have 2 rotations through AP. First night is Sorcerer Mickey.

 

[tlynk]

Animator's Palate--the 'draw your own character' dining is on cruises of 6 nts? or longer--it takes place the second time you're in Animator's Palate--so everyone needs to have 2 rotations through AP. First night is Sorcerer Mickey.

That makes sense! I usually cruise on the longer itineraries.

 

[pixiedustedme]

If there is something you want not marked gluten-free, you can always ask if it can be made that way. Only on rare occasions have they not been able to accommodate that. It's often simply a matter of leaving off/changing a sauce or a side. They even made a gluten-free crouton for my French Onion soup on the Wonder in Feb without my asking them to. You don't HAVE to stick to the items marked gluten-free.

That hasn't quite been our experience. When my son was gluten free (Magic and Fantasy), we were quite limited to what was offered as GF, at least, if you wanted it to have any flavor. I remember specifically asking for certain MDR dishes for my son, and them saying they really couldn't. Aside from the gf menu items, they could give us completely (and I mean completely) unseasoned items, but nothing that was really like the gluten version.

 

[Dug720]

That hasn't quite been our experience. When my son was gluten free (Magic and Fantasy), we were quite limited to what was offered as GF. I remember specifically asking for certain MDR dishes for my son, and them saying they really couldn't.

I didn’t say that they could do anything - some things are impossible to do. But I have never been limited to just what was on the menu. I do not know if they are more limited for the kids’ menu or not, but never limited to those things marked gf on the adult. And this is across all 4 ships.

 

[pixiedustedme]

I didn’t say that they could do anything - some things are impossible to do. But I have never been limited to just what was on the menu. I do not know if they are more limited for the kids’ menu or not, but never limited to those things marked gf on the adult. And this is across all 4 ships.

My son wasn't eating off the kids' menu. I stated our experience, which is as valid as anyone else's. Aside from dishes that already happened to be gluten-free, DCL typically could only offer us items that were completely unseasoned, and therefore very unlike the regular version of the dish. In terms of taste, they were in no way equivalent.

WDW restaurants tend to do a much better job with GF than DCL, in our experience.

 

[Dug720]

My son wasn't eating off the kids' menu. I stated our experience, which is as valid as anyone else's. Aside from dishes that already happened to be gluten-free, DCL typically could only offer us items that were completely unseasoned, and therefore very unlike the regular version of the dish. In terms of taste, they were in no way equivalent.

WDW restaurants tend to do a much better job with GF than DCL, in our experience.

I was not denying it happened. I'm sorry your wait staff were not more accommodating.

They do also have much more limited resources on the ship than on land, so there is always the possibility they run out of the things to accommodate - especially if a lot more people are requesting gluten-free than reported in advance. I had that happen on a Royal Caribbean cruise - thankfully they were able to restock in Venice, otherwise our options would have been severely limited.

 

[mmouse37]

My husband could not stand the schinitzel. Funny how it is always different for everyone. Palo diner was just amazing.

I agree...everyone has different tastes. I can't stand the Shwarma onboard but many seem to love it…..our place at home is awesome but the one on the ship meh.

MJ

 

[Jenny Schmidt]

Just got off the Magic this morning- I actually thought the food in the MDRs was better than the last cruise we took on the wonder! However the service was NOT typical Disney quality. I think every meal had an issue- salads without dressing, wine not poured until after food served, entire meals forgotton (happened twice). Although, the service issues were generally limited to dining, nowhere else. Counselors, room staff, bartenders were all great as always. We also had a head waiter screw up our Palo reservation that caused no small amount of angst and, no lie, THREE changes of clothes trying to sort it out. i personally never heard him apologize, which also really irked me. He wanted to change it as we were going to cancel, and he wanted our table in the MDR for another group. He told us he got us an earlier time so we wouldn't cancel, but he didn't. Going to be sending in a complaint on that one.

 

[GingerPilot]

Who is the bartender in the Concierge lounge currently? I'm so hoping for Tim for the TA crossing!

 

[allashore]

Who is the bartender in the Concierge lounge currently? I'm so hoping for Tim for the TA crossing!

Bartenders in Concierge rotate every two weeks, at least that's what our bartender told us on the Fantasy in 2018

 

[I❤MICKEY]

Animator's Palate--the 'draw your own character' dining is on cruises of 6 nts? or longer--it takes place the second time you're in Animator's Palate--so everyone needs to have 2 rotations through AP. First night is Sorcerer Mickey.

This is such a letdown as I just booked a 5 night on the Magic. The Sorcerer Mickey is nothing compared to the draw your own character experience. Totally bummed.